Pre Tipoff items from Marquette-Pitt

March 4, 2009by john grupp

• Because the 16-team Big East Tournament starts on a Tuesday this year (March 10), there is no awards banquet on the eve of the event.

Traditionally, all of the awards were announced at a large banquet at a Manhattan hotel on Tuesday evening. Under the new format, the Big East all-conference teams  11 players on the first team and 10 on the second team  will be announced on Sunday afternoon, according to Big East associate commissioner John Paquette.

Some of the lesser awards  sixth-man, defensive player, etc.  will be announced on Monday. The main awards  Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Scholar/Athlete of the Year  will be announced on Tuesday in between the afternoon and evening session of the first round games at Madison Square Garden.

• Pitt junior guard Jermaine Dixon was named to Sports Illustrated writer Seth Davis’ 10th annual All-Glue team, an award afforded to lock-down defenders. Others on the team are Taylor Griffin of Oklahoma (Blake’s older brother), Garrett Temple of LSU, J.T. Tiller of Missouri and Travis Walton of Michigan State. Dixon is the second Pitt player to be named to Davis’ all-Glue team. Jaron Brown made the team in 2003 and again in 2004 as the captain.